The MHLS Board of Trustees met on Wednesday, May 8, in the Community Room of the Saugerties Public Library and accepted, with regret, the resignation of Mike Nyerges as Executive Director, effective September 30, 2013.

"Mr. Nyerges has been a passionate advocate of libraries and cooperative library services," said MHLS Board President Peter Hoffmann,"He's helped focus attention on the strategic challenges and opportunities for libraries. He was vocal in his support of System staff and services and in his acknowledgement of the contributions of member library directors in their work through the Directors Association and System advisory committees. He was always available to provide assistance to member library directors and trustees, as well as System staff and board members."

The Board will hire an executive search consultant to conduct the recruitment of the new director. Full stakeholder involvement will be planned at every step of the way, including determining the criteria for recruiting and evaluating candidates, as well as final interviews. Questions can be directed to the MHLS Board President, Peter Hoffmann, at Hoffmannpr1@aol.com.

Other actions taken by the MHLS Board were:

Thanked Director, Sukrit Goswami, the staff and the board of the Saugerties Public Library for hosting the meeting.

Reviewed the Central Library quarterly report.

Approved three proposed amendments to the System's Bylaws, and the presentation of these changes to the membership for adoption, at the October 18, 2013 Annual Meeting.

Went into Executive Session to discuss specific staff, asking only the Executive Director to attend the Executive Session.

Accepted the resignation of the Executive Director, effective September 30, 2013, and authorized Board President, Peter Hoffmann, to hire Bradbury Associates to assist MHLS in the search for a new Executive Director.

The next meeting of the MHLS Board of Trustees is scheduled for Wednesday, July 10, at 10:00am in the MHLS Auditorium.

Professional Development

BookExpo America (BEA) is coming up! BEA is "the largest publishing event in North America" with over 1,000 exhibitors displaying their upcoming titles in all formats and all genres. Discover the latest books and get advanced reading copies and galleys. More than 600 authors will be there! There are dedicated librarian sessions and the Librarian Information Track in the BEA Conference Program.

The event runs May 29 - June 1 at the Javits Center in NYC. New York Library Association (NYLA) Members can receive discounted registration rates to attend!$20 off a 3-day BEA pass OR $10 off a 1-day BEA pass.Use the following link to receive this discount: http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/NYLA

NYLA will also be offering a free bus from Albany to the Javits Center on Thursday, May 30th. The bus will be departing from Albany, with stops in New Paltz and West Nyack, arriving at the Javits Center around 9:00am. They will depart from the Javits at 6:00pm. The transportation schedule will be as follows:

Microsoft Discontinuing Windows XP Support April 2014: Robert Drake, MHLS IT Coordinator, shared with Directors recently that Microsoft has announced that in April 2014 they will officially cease support for their Windows XP operating system. If you still have Windows XP computers in service it would be advisable to deprecate them from your network as soon as possible. After April 2014, system updates will no longer be available and user software (including existing software updates) will increasingly stop supporting this operating system. "If your library needs assistance," says Robert, "MHLS is available to help you in choosing new computers. We currently advise Windows 7 Professional for both staff and public machines."

Do you need to purchase Windows 7 Professional or other software? Don't forget to check Tech Soup for deeply discounted software for public libraries: http://www.techsoup.org/ For example: Windows 7 Professional is $12 for public libraries on TechSoup.

Job Openings

The Mid-Hudson Library System is now accepting resumes to fill a part-time cataloging specialist position. The deadline to apply for this position is May 20, 2013. Summary: Performs cataloging duties related to bibliographic maintenance to ensure that database records are complete, up-to-date, and accurate, and provides training to staff and member libraries as required.

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree; or six months to one year full-time related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

A working knowledge of Integrated Library System (ILS) software.

Working knowledge of MARC structure.

Proficiency in searching bibliographic databases for records.

Familiarity with Library of Congress subject headings and the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR2) of record organization.

The ability to write documentation related to cataloging procedures.

The ability to read and interpret procedure manuals.

Must be able to demonstrate strong verbal communication skills in phone support and in-person training environments.

The ability to adapt to changing technologies.

Familiarity with the Windows 7 operating system and Microsoft Office suite.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience using either the Millennium or Sierra ILS.

Some background in written Spanish.

Experience with the RDA cataloging standard.

Experience with MARC-Edit software.

Experience with library vendor software including Baker and Taylor Title Source 3 and Midwest Tapes.